A long time ago, evergreens were thought to have had mystical powers, since they continued to flourish during the winter while others died or went dormant. The evergreen also symbolized a renewal of life.

In the 16th century in Alsace, a region of Western Germany, the decorating of the Christmas Tree started. In 1747, the first American Christmas Tree was seen in the German Moravian settlement of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Christbaum- Christmas Tree- is a symbol of Christ. The tree is decorated with cookies, gingerbread, and, candy. Victorian Americans chose tall trees and placed them on the floor. According to folklore, Santa brought the tree and trimmings and the parents decorated it, Christmas morning. For fun, the tree was loaded with sweets and they could not be eaten until the tree was taken down. The Christmas tree went up on Christmas eve, and was taken down on January 5.

To avoid the risk of fires, the candles were tapered for stability and shaped into spirals to reduce the dripping wax. Beeswax and bayberry wax was used instead of tallow, because they are less flammable. Weighted, spring clips, or dishes were used as candle holders to catch the wax drippings.

 
Traditional Ornaments
 
The ornaments of today greatly differ to the ornaments of yester year. Today they are made mostly of aluminum or metal or glass. But back then they didn’t have those nice things, they made their own ornaments, paper or cardboard, printed by color lithography. They pasted them onto small boxes to hang on the tree. The lithographs were used to decorate cotton batting, the fiber that goes in-between the top and bottom layers of a quilt. Some of the themes were: Nativity, cherubs, angels, and a type of European Santa.

In 1880 F.W. Woolworth agreed to display glass ornaments in his store; they sold out in a couple of days. In 1890 Woolworth traveled to Germany to choose the ornaments he would sell. Many of the ornaments were imported, most came from Lauscha, near Nuremberg.

There was still glass ornaments back then, but the most popular was the paper/cardboard ornaments that were made at home. Some were made with gold or silver embossed paper, some were simple two-sided or they could have been intricately carved out of wood. Some were even elaborate 3-D hand painted detailed ornaments.


These early Christmas cards show a traditional Victorian Christmas